SV OU Defensive slither balance- peaked 1400s

[Poke nerd]

Slither BO






Intro
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Recently I've hit rock bottom, I'm not sure why but I have, so I tore into team building. Something I've been experimenting with is defensive slither, and I'm quite proud of how it's done. So I created this team based around it, and it worked decently well!

Team building process

I started out with slither, having great defensive capabilities, and can pivot out.



I added garg to abuse slither's WoW, and setup curses, and the two made a decent defensive core.



I added hatt as a second wincon, as well as deflecting hazards and status at the opponent.



Ghold gave us a speed control option, and can help cripple walls with trick.




Mandatory.




slowking gave us a solid pivot that can help sponge special attacks, especially from valiant and walking wake

The Team




Slither Wing @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp
- Morning Sun
- Low Kick

Slither works really well. It's defensive capabilities are amazing, it's bulk isn't anything too notable, but it's typing is deceptively good, walling a large portion of the tier's physical attackers. U turn WoW and morning sun are self-explanatory, and I ran low kick because it hits a lot of the things we want to check hard, garg and gambit in particular.


Cheeky Bax calcs:

252+ Atk Choice Band Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slither Wing: 292-345 (78 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 Atk Slither Wing Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur: 360-426 (97 - 114.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO- guaranteed after hazards, glaive rush effect ect...

Things slither checks

non acro and helps Vs and with burns

Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Salt Cure
- Recover
- Earthquake

Garg is a great wincon, and helps to chip with salt cure along with slither's burns. It can use the burns to setup curses, and then cook with salt cure + EQ, which hit surprisingly hard together. Other than that, it's a great status absorber and wall, even better after cursing, and tera water let's it beat even more Mons, including . Tera water over fairy since we can already check meow with slither. I decided it was best to run max SpDef because I'd be quite tanky physically between



Hatterene @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Stored Power
- Draining Kiss


Our second burn abuser. This thing is great at setting up on garg's face with subs, and destroys the hopes and dreams of hazeless stalls, as stored power COOKS. Other than that, hatt does normal hatt things, keeps hazards off the field, deflects annoying status, and everything else. It acts a nice sponge, and helps against Bax, who's annoying otherwise.




Gholdengo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Focus Blast
- Trick

Ghold is here as speed control with a very spamable s-ball, but is probably the first Mon I'd replace. Trick helps our wincons setup Vs crippled walls ( especially Vs haze Mons with hatt). Tera fighting is to boost focus blast's base power and resist sucker form , which is a plus. Even with no investment, it's great at switching into a variety of attacks, and can catch valiant and pult by surprise.



Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water / Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock


Tusk is very good at adding and removing hazards. I decided to make this thing a bit more offensive, as the team is quite passive. 4 speed means you'll win tusk Vs tusk MUs, even is you tera. The tera also means you resist any steel or ice attacks, while not being weak to tusk. It also improves your MU Vs popular fire types like and . Tera fire means you can't be burned and you can beat the moths while still keeping your resists to ice and steel, but you're then weak to opposing tusks, which can be a problem.



Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Chilly Reception
- Surf
- Thunder Wave

Our last member, it's great at supporting the team with slow pivoting, and future sight support always helps. I decided to ditch slack off for thunder wave, since you won't be staying on the field for long anyways. The one thing I'll say is to be careful to not mix chilly reception with 's morning sun, as it recovers less in the snow. Slowking is great at eating a variety of different special moves, then pivoting out to heal the damage, and getting a free switch into something else. King especially helps with sun and , who are a pain to deal with.




Threats

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Valiant's moonblasts hit too hard after a tera fairy, and a smart player will keep them alive at all costs. You'll have to play carefully around this guy, but baiting out a tera on another Mon or just luring and killing it with definitely helps.



this thing is really scary to face, you're best bet is to trick it with , or just not let it set up.


pretty much all sets hurt, but especially belly drum. The best way to beat it is to play really aggressively, and don't let it belly drum. Tera water definitely helps.

Replays
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I've actually recorded some this time.

Replays

YOU THOUGHT I'D ACTUALLY REMEMBERED TO RECORD SOME LMAO I've only got 3 :)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1858034374 --- Vs + balance

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1857355028 ----- Vs + BU

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1857357135-7h0p7qgwez8ffsd01f344srl04r4rvypw
Vs +

Conclusion
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Honestly, this team is far from good ( please help) but I mainly wanted to showcase slither wing. It's great in the current meta, and don't be surprised is you see it in more of my future threads. I'd still appreciate any help, so as always until the end of time, thanks in advance!

Edit: forgot the paste lmao https://pokepast.es/497a5e00958c6a5a

 

[Poke nerd]

Small bump

 

[DifferentDimensionVanessa]

I absolutely love the idea of putting 252 HP and some Defense on a Pokemon with unique typing. However, with Iron Valiant everywhere, it seems that it would be a better call in a different generation.
Also, you're running Substitute on Hatterene, when it already has Magic Bounce. I've never seen a Hatterene with Substitute before. You don't want a different move, like Nuzzle to cripple, or Mystical Fire to contain Volcarona that's trying to Quiver Dance?

 

[Poke nerd]

I've never seen a Hatterene with Substitute before. You don't want a different move, like Nuzzle to cripple, or Mystical Fire to contain Volcarona that's trying to Quiver Dance?

Sub means that you can avoid salt cure and investation from and , and take advantage of the burns and cm to be extremely bulky behind a sub. Nuzzle is certainly interesting, but I prefer sub on this specific set.

I absolutely love the idea of putting 252 HP and some Defense on a Pokemon with unique typing. However, with Iron Valiant everywhere, it seems that it would be a better call in a different generation.

Thanks! Even with valiant everywhere, I feel we are as well equipped as we can be for beating it between and .

 

[Motor Hawk]

AYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Cool team. But, might I be so bold, as to make some suggestions to your team?

Take it or leave it...

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Hard Suggestions
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-->

I was also considering Meowscarada because they help with Valiant and Azu, while Dragonite helps with Valiant and Volc. Both IMO gives you some much-needed power. But I ultimately went with dragonite because Azu isnt as common and if they're really that much of a threat can be taken out with a combo of Garg/ Dragonite/ tera water Tusk.

Slowking is fine, but your team is structured already with good defensive mons and lacking in power. And while I also think a slow pivot is a good idea, to me it doesn't look like it does a whole lot for your team overall.

Side note: if you remove Slowking and come across a Sun team, send out Garg first and get off some curse/ iron defenses while Torkoal is out. Then you can salt cure/ recover stall Walking Wake fairly easily. That's what I would do; and when Wake is defeated, you are stocked up from your curses/ iron defenses to run house on the rest of the team.

Anyway...

Let Him Cook (Dragonite) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Encore/ Roost
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Fire Punch/ Thunder Punch/ Earthquake

Whether you choose encore or roost is up to you. I prefer encore to allow your ddance set up a little easier but roost is also a good viable option.

Also, thunder punch can help with Azu while fire punch is more there for coverage. Really you can also use earthquake but I would suggest picking a move that will be best complimentary.

Above all, tera normal extreme speed does work into Valiant and Volcarona.

+1 252+ Atk Tera Normal Dragonite Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 330-390 (81.6 - 96.5%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252+ Atk Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Iron Valiant: 240-283 (83 - 97.9%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252+ Atk Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Volcarona: 313-369 (100.6 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Other than that it's only minor tweaks that I find help more overall.

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Soft Suggestions​

You built this team around Slither Wing and probably know how to work him better than I do so I'm not going to touch him...


Curse --> Iron Defense
This is more so my preference but let me explain... Curse is nice and I get it for the damage capabilities, but IMO you are going to want to press salt cure 90% of the time anyway. And a one-off quick +2 to defense can help you stick around longer to press salt cure more often better than a +1 can. Not to mention that getting off two iron defenses makes you virtually indestructible. My point being is that you need the defense more than you will need the attack.


Stored power --> Psyshock
I get that stored power can do damage IF you can get up enough calm mind boosts, but the ability to hit Spd mons hard with Psyshock IMO is a better option. You're going to hit Def Mons hard anyway with draining kiss (and would want to more so than not for the recovery) and currently you have no way to do reliable damage to Spd mons (because stored power isn't getting you there unless you can get off 3/ 4+ calm minds).

I would also say to ditch substitute for nuzzle (for automatic paras) but that's up to you (actually). If you find that sub works then I am here for it.


Focus miss --> Tera blast/ Thunderbolt
If you're going to tera anyway to get around Gambit, then tera blast is going to give you more reliable damage. You don't want to miss an opportunity to catch Gambit off guard and take them out.

252 SpA Tera Fighting Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Kingambit: 700-828 (173.2 - 204.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Tera Fighting Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Kingambit: 700-828 (173.2 - 204.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

What I would suggest is tera flying to get yourself off the ground and thunderbolt for more coverage. If Gambit is going to come in I would hope that you would swap to Tusk (who can tank the hits) over Gholdengo (who loses out on the tera fighting surprise once you swap into Gambit) but maybe I am wrong.


Boots --> Leftovers
You're a bulky boy so being able to recover some HP is vital. Sure you'll take damage on entry, but you're typing means that you're not taking much damage from rocks/ spikes anyway. You can either not take damage with boots, or you can take damage, recover it right away anyway, and still have a recovery option with leftovers.

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ANYWAY, that's all I got. Hope you're doing well. Hope you're drinking water. Hope you're getting enough sun. (Because if you've hit rock bottom and are not sure why it's probably because you're not getting enough sun, water, or oddly enough zinc).
Byeeee

 

[Poke nerd]

Yoo motor hawk thanks for the reply! I'll tell you my opinions on you're rate.



This is probably a good change, and gives us some much needed power. No questions asked here.


The main reason I had this set over iron press is to beat cloak , but we have other ways of beating it, so it isn't a problem really. I'll try this one out. I know how much you love iron press .



I think I'll keep stored power here. It means that it'll destroy stalls and bulkier teams. Vs defensive walls we will be able to beat them since they can't do much back to us.



I'll definitely be trying this suggestion out, it'll definitely help.



I do like boots for being immune to hazards ( t spikes are especially annoying), but lefties are also nice. I'll try lefties out.

if you've hit rock bottom and are not sure why it's probably because you're not getting enough sun, water, or oddly enough zinc).

That's probably why, I've not touched grass in a while lmao.

Anyways, thanks for rating it, I'll try out the suggestions and get back to you

 

[Motor Hawk]

Yoo motor hawk thanks for the reply! I'll tell you my options on you're rate.



This is probably a good change, and gives us some much needed power. No questions asked here.


The main reason I had this set over iron press is to beat cloak , but we have other ways of beating it, so it isn't a problem really. I'll try this one out. I know how much you love iron press .



I think I'll keep stored power here. It means that it'll destroy stalls and bulkier teams. Vs defensive walls we will be able to beat them since they can't do much back to us.



I'll definitely be trying this suggestion out, it'll definitely help.



I do like boots for being immune to hazards ( t spikes are especially annoying), but lefties are also nice. I'll try lefties out.



That's probably why, I've not touched grass in a while lmao.

Anyways, thanks for rating it, I'll try out the suggestions and get back to you

I do love me some iron press but recently I've been rocking iron defense + equake. I like the quick boost to defense to outlive Atk mons while being able to hit mons that would normally take damage from body press with equake (plus being able to hit CC Ghold).